Question 1: Why should management periodically review its purchasing policies and procedures? What are the potential consequences if management does not review policies and procedures? How often do you think it should go through a minor or major set of rewrites?
Question 2: What are the benefits associated with a comprehensive policy and procedure manual? Is there a downside to the manual being too comprehensive?
Question 3: Discuss the concept of ethics? Why is the purchasing profession particularly sensitive to this topic?
Question 4: How important is labour and human rights in today's supply chain environment? Why is important? What are the implications for fair trade, sourcing overseas, and policy adoption in a global sourcing environment? Why is it so difficult to monitor suppliers that are guilty of violating labour and human rights guidelines?